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Ko agrees to Oatlands return

Peter Stone

Girl wonder … Lydia Ko celebrates with her mother after winning the NSW Open in January. Photo: Quentin Jones

Just 4000 spectators attended the final day of the tied Test match between Australia and the West Indies at the Gabba in December 1960, but in the minds of many that figure has multiplied 10-fold, maybe 20-fold, and so it will be with Lydia Ko's first victory in a professional tournament. Only about 1000 ardent golf fans were at Oatlands Golf Club in Sydney's inner west last January to witness the 14-year-old Korean-born New Zealander create her slice of golfing history as the youngest winner of a professional event - both male and female - in winning the Women's NSW Open.

In late August Ko, now aged 15, became the youngest winner on the LPGA Tour with victory in the Canadian Open in a field that included 49 of the top 50 players in the world to write another page of history. So, here's an early tip for those eager to see the most prodigious talent on the world women's scene up close and personal - she is returning to defend her NSW title in late January and officials are delighted.

She is, of course, still an amateur with no thought of turning professional - despite the fact her earnings as a pro in Canada would have been $US300,000 ($289,000) - until the end of 2014 when she finishes high school. Both she and her advisers, primarily her parents and coach Guy Wilson, reckon time is on her side. "I am so happy to play Oatlands again," she said. "It was a thrilling and exciting moment.'' And does she feel any added pressure, not only as the defending champion but also a 2012 winner on the LPGA Tour? "I don't think so. I feel pressure in every tournament like the other players, but [I] try to take the positive aspects or sometimes forget that I'm playing a professional event. All the tournaments are the same to me.'' She has asked Steve Mowbray, proprietor of a Woollahra delicatessen and a six-figure marker at Royal Sydney, to caddie for her again at Oatlands.

KIND WORDS FROM CAWLEY

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With Scott Gardiner finally officially on his way to the PGA Tour as the first indigenous Australian to play on the main stage, we caught up with Evonne Cawley (nee Goolagong), who trod a similar path in women's tennis more than 40 years ago. Golf and tennis are the two mainstream sports that, for whatever reason, do not have a great representation of original Australians. Sports such as Australian rules, rugby league, rugby union, basketball, athletics and others have Aboriginal stars aplenty. Cawley, who won seven grand slam titles, is an extremely shy lady and has been since I first met her in 1969. She was reluctant to talk at length but did offer a short statement wishing Gardiner well. "I've never had the pleasure of meeting Scott but I'm really happy that he has finally won his US PGA Tour card, particularly after all those near misses he has had to endure. Having an Aboriginal Australian playing on the biggest golf tour will hopefully inspire other indigenous boys and girls to follow in his footsteps and I'm pleased to read that he is keen to be a role model for them.

"I have spent 15 years now using tennis as a means to promote better health and education for Aboriginal youngsters who enter my program and Scott's persistence and skill - his never-give-up attitude to achieve his dreams - are all the qualities I try to instil in those kids. Congratulations to Scott and to your mum and dad and those who have supported you. You are a fighter we can all admire.''

SIX UNDER IN THREE

And now to an extraordinary three holes played by young Victorian amateur Matt Fulford, who attends the Australasian Golf Academy at Parkwood on the Gold Coast, that surely deserves a place in the record books. Playing in the monthly medal off the championship tees of the 6043-metre course, Fulford made a hole-in-one on the second hole, then knocked an iron into the hole for an albatross on the 462-metre third and then made a birdie from four metres on the short fourth. That's a staggering six under par in just three holes. He'd never had a hole-in-one nor an albatross and suddenly he'd done both back to back.

Unfortunately reality gripped with Fulford finishing his round just one under.